The United Nations prepared to hold a special meeting Wednesday on the situation in Haiti, where the gang leader behind the recent spike in violence warned of “civil war” unless Prime Minister Ariel Henry steps down.
“If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide,” warned Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer-turned-ganglord better known as “Barbeque,” as his gang members tried to storm the heavily guarded airport he told journalists.
Henry, who had gone to Kenya last week to lobby for a peacekeeping force to curb the spiralling violence in his country, could not return to the capital of Port-au-Prince because of the fighting near the airport. After the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, refused to let him land there, Henry landed in San Juan, capital of the US territory of Puerto Rico, where State Department officials were reportedly urging him to agree to a transitional government.
“We will let the Prime Minister speak to his travel plans,” and “the United States is not providing military assistance to help the Prime Minister return to Haiti,” said State Department officials.
“[We] urge all actors to put the people of Haiti first, stop the violence – that would of course include these gangs that are responsible for the recent violence – and make the necessary concessions to allow for inclusive governance, free and fair elections, and the restoration of democracy,” said state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
The UN Security Council convened a private meeting Wednesday to discuss the security crisis in the impoverished country, where almost half of its 11.7 million citizens suffer acute hunger.
The situation in Haiti was “beyond untenable,” warned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Noting that “a staggering 1,193 people have been killed, and 692 others injured by gang violence” since the beginning of the year, he urging the international community to “act swiftly and decisively to prevent Haiti’s further descent into chaos”.
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